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Experts predict two-thirds of people living on this planet in 2030 will experience water scarcity, a situation expected to result in the deaths of millions and an unprecedented rise in military conflicts. Can we as individuals hope to have any effect on the global scale of water misuse?

Yes, we can make a significant difference―with our food choices―learned author and activist Florencia Ramirez as she traveled across the nation to interview farmers and food producers. Tracing Ramirez’s tour of American water sustainable farms―from rice paddies in Cajun Louisiana to a Hawaiian coffee farm to a Boston chocolate factory and beyond―Eat Less Water tells the story of water served on our plates: an eye-opening account of the under-appreciated environmental threat of water scarcity, a useful cookbook with water-sustainable recipes accompanying each chapter, and a fascinating personal narrative that will teach the reader how they, too, can eat less water.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Exceptional, unique, impressively informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, Eat Less Water is an extraordinary and life-changing read that is very highly recommended, especially for community and academic library Contemporary Environmental Issues collections, as well as the personal reading lists of anyone concerned with the conservation of water in a changing global climate.―Julie Summers, Midwest Book Review

“Eat Less Water is as clever as its title. It’s a thoughtful book complete with recipes that are as good for your taste buds as they are for the planet. Read it and learn. Read it and eat. Read it as a reminder that our world’s most precious resource is in jeopardy―and yet we can do something about it. Read it to find out how.”―Thomas M. Kostigen, New York Times bestselling author of The Green Book

“Eat Less Water is an informative, loving tribute to the source from which all life springs. Through explorations of foods ranging from pasta to wine, Florencia Ramirez reveals how cultivation and consumption impact global water usage, sharing insights on how we, the eaters, can support a less-resource intensive practices in food and agriculture that is not only sustainable but delicious.”―Simran Sethi, author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/wbw/jan_19.htm#Fiction

"A fascinating cornucopia of methods to reduce water use through organic propagation and preparation.

In exploring efforts toward reducing global consumption of the Earth’s most precious commodity, writer, blogger, and public policy researcher Ramirez has developed a bountiful, delectable road map of farming innovation and conservationist food preparation. The Earth is two-thirds water, mostly saline, and by 2030, it’s estimated that half the world will experience freshwater scarcity. Preservation is a key conservation concern, writes the author, who regularly attends Earth Day events and promotes water-saving items like shower timers. After focusing on water-waste prevention in bathrooms, Ramirez, recognizing that “seven out of every ten gallons of water is used for food production,” redirected her efforts to the kitchen, where much more could be saved. In a text bolstered by documentation and suffused with a true creative passion for resource preservation, the author presents a series of chapters on the interaction and integration of water with a variety of foods, liquids, production processes, and “on-the-edge farming.” Ramirez fully immerses herself in her subject with eye-opening field trips to resourceful water-sustainable croplands across America. Among them, a California dry biodynamic wheat farm thriving through the advent of cover cropping, a trailblazing rice farm, an aquaponic ranch in the Texas Plain, a “green” egg farming operation, and a Hawaiian organic shade-grown coffee plantation. Concerned conservationists, environmental and agricultural activists, and everyday farmers and consumers alike will be enticed by Ramirez’s passionately delivered and convincing combination of charming narrative, strategic resource preservation techniques, and pages of recipes ideas from crustless cheesecake to spinach quiche and chicken tortilla soup. “Be part of a change that will make a difference in creeks, rivers, groundwater, and oceans across the planet,” she encourages. “Start tonight at your kitchen table.”

About the Author

Florencia Ramirez is a trained researcher at the University of Chicago's School of Public Policy. She won the sixth Gift of Freedom Creative Nonfiction Award from the A Room of Her Own Foundation (AROHO). Her articles appear in Edible Communities Magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, among others, and her popular blog. She lives in Oxnard, California, an agricultural town on the Pacific coast that smells of celery, strawberries and fertilizers with her husband and three young children. www.florenciaramirez.com

In the sweltering days following my father’s birth, he just lay there. He did not cry. He refused milk.

On the fourth day, my grandmother sent his eldest sister to borrow a small table from the neighbor’s chicken coop. They would need something to put my father’s tiny body on, for the family viewing. My grandmother knew the signs of a dying baby. She’d given birth to eleven children. Only seven survived.

My father’s sister came back with the table, but she refused to give up on her newborn brother. There had to be a doctor who would examine a baby for free. She ran through the heat of the Mexican summer to the town center and began knocking on doors.

Someone knew a doctor, but he was busy with other patients. When he listened to her, this little girl desperate about her baby brother, the physician agreed to make a house call the next day.

That night, a strong wind blew through the open window of the bedroom where my father lay. The gust startled my grandfather awake. He threw himself over my father’s listless body to shield him against what my grandfather always described as an otherworldly chill. A cold hand pressed down on his back. He believed it was the hand of La Muerte, Death.

The cold wind retreated as suddenly as it arrived. My father was still alive, just barely.

The doctor arrived the next morning. After a quick examination, he knew what was wrong. He prescribed gotitas de agua. Drops of water on the baby’s lips.

Within days, my father’s condition slowly improved. He suffered from dehydration. His sister, my tia Antonia, returned the table to the neighbors, back to the chicken coop where it belonged.

When I told this story to my friends at school, I always made sure to emphasize the part about Death paying a visit only to leave empty-handed.

“Did you know one drop of water holds all the fresh water in the world?” a retired park ranger asked me at my booth during an Earth Day event.

“How so?”

“If we poured all the water on our planet, both salt water and fresh water, in a gallon bucket, the proportion of water available to shower, water our lawns, drink, and grow food is one single drop.”

We live on a water planet. The Earth is two-thirds water, and 97.5 percent of that is salt water. Of the 2.5 percent fresh water, 69.5 percent of that is frozen.

Another 30.1 percent hides in deep aquifers. The remaining 0.4 percent―a drop in a bucket―sustains all the life on this planet.

Now when I tell my father’s story to my own children, I emphasize the power of a single drop of water.

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This book presents us with a stark reality: There is an imminent crisis looming -- a lack of fresh water. A startling 70% of all fresh water is used in food production! Ms. Ramirez shows us how, by making simple changes in the way we shop, we can be part of the solution to this ever-growing threat. I had the privilege of seeing Ms. Ramirez give a presentation a few days ago, and although she is passionate on her subject and extremely knowledgeable, her message is always upbeat and optimistic. And it turns out that you don't have to become a vegan to be water-wise in your food choices! You don't have to give up any of your secret pleasures -- wine, spirits, chocolate, coffee, dairy, meat -- you just have to be conscious of the farming methods used for each particular food and do your best to purchase foods that are sustainably produced. Ms. Ramirez explains not only the how, she also explains the *why*. And she also urges us to waste less food. Well, nobody likes to waste food, because it's also wasting money! I loved this book, and I think it should be on every family's shelf.

Eat Less Water is not just a book about the far reaching problems we face due to water shortage, it is a recipe for change. We, the readers, follow the author through fields of grape vines, ranches grazed by cows to learn what forward-thinking farmers are doing to make a difference, saving water in the fields, rather than just in our showers. Eat Less Water is one of the most important books you will read this year and a must for anyone who cares about the future of our planet.

This book is a must read if you care about the future of our planet. You will be astounded at the amount of water required to produce the foods you eat. It will change the way you shop for your groceries. You personally can have a big impact on water conservation. Florencia Ramirez shows you how in this user friendly good read. Each chapter deals with a food everyone eats and ends with a recipe. Do yourself and future generations a favor. Read this book.

What a wonderful book! Not only are the recipes enticing, the stories that lead into each recipe are beautifully written and a pleasure to read. This is a book that inspires me to think differently about how we feed our family.

This is an educational book and a cookbook, all written in an engaging non-fiction narrative. The author traveled over 16,000 miles across the USA and took seven years to research and interview farmers and food producers who illustrated the very best in food cultivation.

An eye-opener was this sentence: "...experts predict two-thirds of people living on this planet in 2030 will experience water scarcity, a situation expected to result in the deaths of millions and an unprecedented rise in military conflicts."

This is only 12 years in the future and we've already seen water crisis in Flint, Michigan and Porterville, California. There are millions of more people in the world already in a water crisis. This in itself made me pay attention.

The food cited in her book is grown with farming systems in sync with their surrounding environment, "working to replenish rivers, not pollute them," and methods used to regenerate the soil, "keeping more water in the ground..."

There are sixteen chapters ranging from Wheat and Water to Eggs and Water; Beer and Water; Coffee and Water, and other major food groups. Each chapter ends with a recipe for an organic, water sustainable dish or beverage. My favorite recipe: Tamales.

This easy to read book encourages families and the household shopper to be selective in what they buy and consume. The recipes encourage you to shop for locally grown organic products.

“Eat Less Water" opened my eyes to the connection between my food choices and water systems around the world. Author, Florencia Ramirez, convinced me to start making changes that will impact water systems around the world.